Contents

Summary

The New Face of Fear answered Orton’s beckoning by appearing on the TitanTron, informing The Viper that if he wanted to get his hands on him he would simply have to follow the “breadcrumbs.” However, to make matters even stranger, The Eater of Worlds then revealed an hourglass and flipped it over, insinuating that WWE’s Apex Predator only had so much time to get ahold of his ominous adversary.

Last week, the question of whether Chad Gable had returned too soon from his knee injury, suffered at the hands of The Usos, was answered when Jimmy and Jey used the injury to steal the No. 1 contender spot away from American Alpha. This week, it was déjà vu.

The Usos yet again targeted the Gable’s knee, rendering the former Olympian mostly defenseless. This left Heath Slater, Rhyno and Jason Jordan to contend with the full strength Ascension and Usos by themselves.

Although American Alpha and the SmackDown Tag Team Champions fought with valor, the numbers game ultimately proved to be too much to overcome, as The Usos then targeted Slater’s knee, with Jey viciously stomping it and then Jimmy applying the Tequila Sunrise submission hold for the win via tapout.

The lambasting of Nikki Bella at the hands of the Princess of Staten Island continued on SmackDown LIVE.

Fearless Nikki teamed up with Naomi to square off with Carmella and Natalya, and let’s just say the four women did not hold back in taking out their aggressions on one another.

In the end, however, the result was the same as it has been for the better part of a month — Carmella got the upper hand on Bella, defeateding her with a slam-pin combination that caught the Fearless One off guard to obtain the victory.

Cleveland is the new city of champions — it is home to the 2016 NBA Champion Cavaliers and Team Blue’s own Intercontinental Champion, The Miz. It’s also home to where fellow Ohio native Dolph Ziggler may have just made the biggest, and last, mistake of his career.

Accompanied by Maryse, Miz first berated his fellow Clevelanders, disparaging all of them (with the exception of his own parents who were in attendance) and the city before turning his attention to Ziggler’s parents who were also in the audience. When The A-Lister looked as if he was about to belittle them and their son, The Showoff inevitably interrupted.

The Miz laid into Ziggler and then said he would only give Ziggler one last chance at the Intercontinental Championship, but only on one condition — The Showoff must put his career on the line. Ziggler made a passionate plea and then, finally, after clearly reaching his breaking point, accepted the merciless offer for No Mercy.

SmackDown Women’s ChampionBecky Lynch was making her entrance in preparation to compete when, suddenly, Alexa Bliss popped up and blindsided her. Bliss’ attack proved brutal, as she viciously took out The Irish Lass Kicker on the ramp. Raising the SmackDown Women’s Title above her head, the Blue Brand was left in total bliss en route to No Mercy.

Styles and Ambrose held nothing back in their attempts to obtain the most prestigious prize in all of WWE, bringing their absolute best to the Team Blue battlefield. The two went back and forth with several near falls. But when the action moved outside the ring in what would be the final moments of the match, The Phenomenal One opted to engage Cena, decking him on the outside. But, when the visibly frustrated leader of the Cenation climbed up on the ring apron, the referee became distracted. From there chaos reigned with Styles being able to ultimately seize the moment, grab The Lunatic Fringe’s tights and roll him up to retain the championship.

However, the action was far from over after the match, with Cena laying out both Ambrose and Styes out with Attitude Adjustments, clearly making a statement toward claiming his 16th World Championship at No Mercy.